Adventures in Ich

[LSUFireGal]

Ok so I thought I would just chronicle my adventures treating my first new fish that came down with ich.

I bought an established reef tank in November that came with livestock. My son wanted a blue fish so I waited until I was sure I could keep things in check and had a qt tank in place and cycled. Well against my better judgment I let him talk me into a tiny hippo tang. She was eating pellets in the store and was quite active, so I brought her home on Saturday.

Saturday: eating well nice and clear not as active but she was hiding.

Sunday: still eating well and somewhat active.

Monday: she had a few spots when I fed her in the morning, but nothing major. I dod water change and tested, levels were good. When I got home around 5 she looked like this.

I was freaked. She still ate, but looked like hell. I began the process of lowering the salinity while maintaining other levels.

Tuesday: she looked much better, but not great.

By tonight I should have the salinity lowered 1.009. I hope I can save her. I heard my son saying to her softly please don't die.

 

[ddelozier]

Hippo's are notoriously easy to stress. Hyposalinity will work, copperamine will too. if the tank is totally bare bottom, give it a couple 2" PVC Elbos. They like to hide when they are first introduced. It makes them feel safe. Safe is better than stressed in the treatment of ick

 

[PSU4ME]

+1^

I would add some PVC......QT's add stress to the fish and when they are vulnerable it can really do a number on them. Be very diligent with the hypo treatment......it works well but it must be done correctly. I'm more of a fan of cupramine but that's a personal choice.

 

[LSUFireGal]

Well, cupramine wasn't an option bc no one on my area had it and she was really bad off and I needed to start something. She had plenty of PVC to hide in.

 

[PSU4ME]

Best option then for sure.....keep that refractometer dialed in!

Good luck with the little guy, they are fun when healthy.

 

[ddelozier]

if copperamine isnt available, hypo-salinity is your best bet, but look it up and be very very careful. Hypo can kill your fish faster than ich if done wrong.

 

[DaveK]

It looks like you did everything right as far as your setup goes. You got a quarantine tank and used it, and treated using hyposalinity when you saw the disease. Since your using hyposalinity, do not treat with cupramine at the same time.

Tangs can be notorious "ich magnets", and most likely the fish picked it up at your LFS. Hopefully you got to the disease in time, but I have noticed that ich seems to be really tough on tangs.

At this point, just keep doing what your doing, and monitor ammonia and nitrite for any possible issues there. You may need to make a lot of water changes to keep that down.

Good luck.

 

[LSUFireGal]

Today she looks good and is swimming around a lot more. I did a water change bc ammonia was slightly up, not really reading higher on the test, but the liquid was a little more neony than before so I decided better safe than sorry. Did 50% water change and salinity is steady at 1.09. My refractometer is calibrated checked and double checked. She is not scratching against things and I see no spots, but we all know that's how the life cycle goes anyway. I am trying my best to follow directions completely. My son is so sweet the way he whispers near her tank, he creeps around since I told him not to stress her. I am amazed at what keeping these fish has done for him. He is autistic and has never really cared about another's well being, but helping me care for the fish he has wanted for 4 years has opened up a part of his heart that I never thought I would see.

 

[LSUFireGal]

Picture from today. (Thursday)

 

[breezey1127]

Today she looks good and is swimming around a lot more. I did a water change bc ammonia was slightly up, not really reading higher on the test, but the liquid was a little more neony than before so I decided better safe than sorry. Did 50% water change and salinity is steady at 1.09. My refractometer is calibrated checked and double checked. She is not scratching against things and I see no spots, but we all know that's how the life cycle goes anyway. I am trying my best to follow directions completely. My son is so sweet the way he whispers near her tank, he creeps around since I told him not to stress her. I am amazed at what keeping these fish has done for him. He is autistic and has never really cared about another's well being, but helping me care for the fish he has wanted for 4 years has opened up a part of his heart that I never thought I would see.

That is great. My nephew has autism and I can truely imagine how great that makes you feel!

 

[ddelozier]

It brings a smile to my face everytime i hear of a child interested and smiling, particularly with SW tanks. I setup a 40g for the Teacher in my son's science lab, and another 40g in the Special edd dept. I provided all the materials, just because i love doing it. Just be cautious. One of the kids from the special needs class made himself a bit sick drinking the SW. Nothing beats the feeling of bringing joy to a child. My kids are older now, and show only passing interest in my hobby, but hey, ya cant have everything(where would you put it?).

 

[LSUFireGal]

We have gone over the rules carefully. Luckily he has no interest in touching anything. He likes helping me test the water the most. I do all the actual testing and he just helps me figure out what color it is. He will sit and watch them for hours. Our big tank has to be downstairs and for the first week he slept on the couch to be near his fish. I recently made his day by buying a 14g bio cube from a guy who was moving and he loves it. It has a black and white clown, a yellow headed jawfish and a tail spot blenny and several nice corals. Now he has a tank upstairs too, he was so excited.

 

[LSUFireGal]

It is great that you set those up at school, it is always nice to see kids be interested in new things. I am thinking about asking my Dad's company to sponsor a public display at the library here. Kids love aquariums.

 

[LSUFireGal]

Well she is still doing well in hyposalinity. I saw some spots Wednesday so the clock starts over. , but she is eating really well and quite active.

 

[LSUFireGal]

Well she has completed hypo and I watched her for spots. She has now made her way into the display!